


Who's got the last laugh

by pickyourselfupfred



Series: Fred and Ginger forever [17]
Category: Astaire/Rogers RPF, Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Movies
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:04:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3386201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickyourselfupfred/pseuds/pickyourselfupfred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More incidents and fun from the making of the movie and a brief need of reassurance from each other. They weather any storms because of their love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who's got the last laugh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OldMoviesAreIt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldMoviesAreIt/gifts), [Samantha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samantha/gifts).



‘Thank God that’s over’, snapped Fred as he flung himself onto the couch in Ginger’s dressing room.  
‘Keep your hair on, sorry, your wig on Fred’, giggled Ginger.  
He flung a cushion at her, closely followed by his toupee. She was laughing aloud now, Fred in a snit was so funny.  
‘It’s alright for you – you didn’t have to dance with Hurricane Harriet!’  
Ginger had sat in on the filming of his dance with Hoctor as moral support for Fred. He’d pointed out to her before filming began that he hated his costume, ‘Makes me look stupid’, hated Hoctor, ‘When she’s not bending like a bobby pin she’s like dancing with a plank’, and he hated ‘Not dancing with my baby’.  
‘So you’re good to go then’, she had replied to this tirade whilst secretly agreeing with everything he said.  
Never had he so wanted a dance wrapped in a single take quite so much and fortunately that pretty well happened. So now he was back alone with her all his frustrations came pouring out. She knew just what to do. She came over to the couch, sat down on his lap and threw her arms around his neck.  
‘We film our bit of the dance tomorrow, Freddie, look forward to that’.  
‘Oh I do sweetie’.  
‘Those creepy masks’.  
‘Tell me about it’.  
‘Well you’ve got the real thing here and’…she kissed him…’make the most of it’.  
He happily complied.

Now they were on a roll. Everything to come was good for them in so many ways. They loved their short section together in the final dance of the movie although Ginger heartily disliked those spooky masks and Fred was not best pleased by all the chorines dressed and dancing like his girl.  
‘Stupid cavorting with them when I could have you’, he grumbled to her in passing. Just coming together made them so joyful that, as Fred said, after they viewed the rushes, ‘We look as though we’ve been released from prison’.

Scheduling gave them the opportunity of dancing together again as they went on to shoot ‘They All Laughed’. She always enjoyed the challenge dances and loved the choreography for this one. Fred had been teasing her mercilessly throughout blocking and camera rehearsals so when Cary Grant of all people turned up to watch the filming she made a bee line for him and flirted outrageously, all the time keeping an eye on Fred. He showed no reaction and if anything beamed at her more than usual as they filmed and kept slyly whispering love words to her. When they completed the routine they couldn’t stop grinning at each other, as they’d found the dance so much fun. Fred grabbed her hand straight after and led her back to his dressing room. Their swift exit surprised everyone, especially Grant, but as this was the end of the shooting day everyone was happy to pack up and leave.

Fred meanwhile had Ginger pinned to the door of his room. They were both smiling at each other and their eyes betrayed how they felt.  
‘You are one wicked lady’, he said using his hands to keep her shoulders pressed against the door, ‘I know what game you’re playing’.  
‘Game Fred, I don’t understand?’ she chuckled.  
‘You thought you’d get me all riled up, didn’t you?’  
‘Don’t know what you’re talking about’.  
‘If you think that was flirting watch me sometime’.  
She giggled, ‘It was fun though’.  
He pulled her towards him.  
‘On the contrary I found it incredibly sexy’.  
‘Prove it’.  
The kiss he gave her certainly did.

The next scene to be shot was the marriage of their two characters. They got through the scene, neither daring to say too much to each other. Fred felt for Ginger so much but Phyllis still wouldn’t budge. They didn’t even discuss it any more; it was far too emotive for them. She did, however, grab his hand after the scene and squeezed it rather too hard. They were both secretly glad to move onto the hotel scenes where their characters had adjoining rooms. Fred found the idea of both being in nightwear quite stimulating and he teased her about the particularly fluffy, frilled garment she wore.  
‘It’d take Petrov all night to get you out of that. I’m glad we sleep in skins’.  
‘Well your costume is pretty buttoned up tightly too’.  
‘Say’, he said, ‘sometime I’ll get us adjoining rooms in a hotel. I bet it would spice up our love life’.  
‘You poor sap. I’ve got enough spice already’.

She was bubbling with excitement during these scenes and started to ad lib a few remarks so when Eric Blore, as the hotel manager, knowing they were married, handed over the key to Petrov’s room to Linda saying, ‘I can go to bed with a clear conscience’, she immediately threw back ‘ and so can I’. Fred, who was watching chortled to himself and when he could whispered to her, ‘ I bet she couldn’t wait to get him into her bed’.  
‘Neither could he’, was her reply.

Fred was filming his solo number, ‘Slap That Bass’, with Ginger watching when the Gershwins dropped by the studio. They enjoyed watching the process and after the shoot called the dancers over.  
‘We’re having a bit of a do at the Trocadero on Saturday. Would you two like to come and hang out with us?’  
They nodded eagerly.  
‘Love to be there’, said Fred.

When the brothers had gone she turned to him and said, ‘ After all they’ve done for us what about doing a dance routine just for them on Saturday night?’  
‘Great idea Gin. What’ll we dance to?’  
‘No contest’, she replied smiling, ‘something I’ve wanted to do ever since we met’.  
‘Oh yeah – ‘Embraceable You’ I guess’.  
‘You guess right’.

Two days later Fred took her hand to lead her out onto the ballroom floor at the Troc. When they told the brothers what they were going to do and, as a tribute, were using the Gershwins’ song that had brought them together in New York, they could see how delighted both men were. And for Fred and Ginger, their first ever public dance together in Hollywood was magical and no one knew their secret.

They started by using the same steps the dance had begun with back in ‘Girl Crazy’. Ginger was thrilled when he suggested this.  
‘That first time, back in New York, I wanted so much to dance this routine with you on stage’.  
But then the choreography shifted. It wasn’t a show dance, just the intimate steps of two people who cared deeply for one another. It was mainly in close hold as if Fred had taken his inspiration from the first line, ‘Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you’. She began the sequence with her head resting against his shoulder, clinging tightly together as they circled the floor then segued into sways and small sideward steps, him clasping her waist from behind whilst she settled her back against his chest. They separated briefly for some spins before Fred, on the line, ‘Come to poppa’, pulled her back into hold, danced her in slow turns and very lightly, fleetingly kissed her. As the music stopped the room erupted with claps and cheers. George came over to say, ‘ That was the most beautiful dance you’ve ever done and I loved the cheeky kiss at the end’.  
Ginger grinned, ‘We hadn’t practised that’.  
Fred went back to their table whilst she had a dance with George. He didn’t see much of her after that as most of the guys in the room wanted to dance with her, while he, politely but firmly, rejected offers from the ladies who wanted to dance with the great Fred Astaire. He didn’t mind, as he loved to watch her whatever she was doing. She joined him for a final dance as the party wound down and they slipped off quietly from the club. As they settled in the car Fred turned to her and said, rather seriously, ‘Gin you know if another man came along and you fell for him I wouldn’t stand in your way. I just want you to be happy’.  
‘Oh Fred, you know how I flirt with people but it’s nothing to do with the way I feel about us’.  
‘But I don’t want to you to feel trapped with me’.  
‘I don’t ‘, she hesitated, ‘ I know marriage, when, if it comes, will be a long time off but right here and now we’ve got a wonderful marriage of sorts and that’s more than enough for me’.  
‘I guess that hooking up with this awful pessimist is a real pain for you’.  
‘Fred you could worry for the Olympic team. Just let it go’.  
She pulled his head towards her and kissed every inch of his face.  
‘No man on earth could do for me what you did in our dance tonight. It was the purest, intense love and it was all for me’.  
‘You’ve made me very, very happy today baby’.  
‘Ok, snap out of it Minnie, take me home and make me very happy too’.

She assured him next morning that he certainly had.


End file.
